Natalie Achonwa will always be heard.

On court you hear her communicating on defence and directing traffic, as well as being one of the loudest voices in the huddle, encouraging her teammates. Away from the court, the winner of the 2020 WNBA Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award uses her voice and platform to fight for equality, fight against racial injustices and police brutality and fight to advance mental health initiatives.

Between playing in the WNBA, as well as serving as treasurer on the WNBA’s executive council and representing Canada whenever the opportunity arises, Achonwa’s slate is plenty full. Still, she’s eager to find opportunities to give back to her community as well as to inspire young girls growing up who have their own sports dreams whenever and however she can.

Most recently, this has meant stepping onto the television set, joining Sportsnet’s coverage of the Men’s Senior National Team competing in a qualifying tournament for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

The thought of appearing on live television may be nerve-wracking for most, but for Achonwa, speaking her mind is second nature. Getting to do it with Sportsnet, a company who has partnered with Canada Basketball and has ensured that the women’s program has had equal coverage to the men’s was something that Achonwa felt good about.

“My dad always said I have the gift of gab,” Achonwa said. “Sportsnet and Canada Basketball signed this amazing partnership about putting our games on TV and sharing the national team program coverage and giving us more media coverage … I came down there for about three days to [work] both games for the men's tournament and it was a lot of learning experience, but it was fun.”

In addition to talking about basketball, Achonwa’s presence meant having a face from the Senior Women’s National Team on the panel. Her presence also meant another woman at a table that is often filled with men giving their opinions about sports.

“A big piece in my messaging and who I am is pushing the conversation that representation matters,” Achonwa said. “Visibility is always a challenge in our game. Visibility of our games, visibility of us as athletes, that’s for female athletes in general. Giving us opportunities to shine and to show that we can do this work, and that we can do this work well, instead of men always being the default [is important],” Achonwa said. “It's great to give us this light and when the opportunity comes, we will excel at it. But you have to have the opportunity.”

Achonwa has been steadfast in her push for equality in professional sports. As a seven-year veteran in the WNBA, she and her colleagues have also led the way in the fight against social injustices. It is impossible not to be inspired by the work Achonwa and her WNBA counterparts have been doing.

After spending six years playing for the Indiana Fever, who selected Achonwa ninth overall in the 2014 WNBA Draft, Achonwa spent the past WNBA season in Minnesota playing for the Lynx. Joining her in Minnesota was Team Canada teammate Bridget Carleton.

Whether in Minnesota, Indiana, or somewhere in between, she doesn’t have to look very far to find inspiration from her WNBA teammates.

“I'm sitting in my locker room right now,” Achonwa said. “I’m in Minnesota and I'm just looking around at the name tags of my teammates, some of my colleagues, and I'm thinking of some of their stories and how much has gone into them and me getting to this point, it kind of gives you chills to know that so much goes into getting you where you are.

“We talked about playing year round and we talked about the sacrifice of having to play overseas,” she continued. “One of my teammates, Napheesa [Collier] is having a baby in May, the sacrifices on our bodies [is another thing WNBA athletes go through]. I think about Layshia Clarendon and their battle and their push for trans rights. I think about Kayla McBride and her conversations around trying to end the stigma of mental health. We have such amazing advocates, we have such passionate people. We have such multi-faceted people in the WNBA that I love to talk about when I get the chance to share anything about these amazing people.”

Achonwa is always quick to switch the focus onto those around her. The reality is that she is every bit as inspiring as those whose work inspires her.

“There's always topics that people try to tiptoe around, but especially our players association and the athletes that are part of our group [in the WNBA], we're the group that has the most to lose [and we don’t tiptoe around them],” Achonwa said. “We don't do it for the PR, we don't do it for the publicity or because it's a hot topic. We do it because it's who we are, it's the communities we represent.

“A lot of these topics hit home,” Achonwa continued. “I've been raised to do the right thing. If there's anything that I ever feel or see that doesn't represent the world that I wish to see, I'll challenge it. That just feels like me doing my part.”

The 29 year-old credits the support she receives from her mother and father with helping her to have confidence in using her voice and trusting her opinions. She points to the example set by her father as the thing that drives her to continue to speak up.

“I've grown up with my dad continuously telling me that to whom much is given, much is required,” she said. “I find that if I don't use these gifts in this platform that I've been given and blessed with, then it goes to waste. I’m always just trying to figure out ways to continue to challenge the status quo. How can I continue to improve the community and those that will come after me?”

During the early days of the pandemic, when sports leagues were halted and the NBA and WNBA restarted their seasons in enclosed “bubbles” in Florida (or the “wubble” for the WNBA), all eyes were on the WNBA as the league collectively used their voices to call for change.

“It's crazy,” she said. “It took a pandemic for people to realize the work that the WNBA and the WNBPA has been doing. The WNBA has been doing it. I think it’s just ingrained in who we are.”

Achonwa, a member of the WNBA’s executive committee, shared that conversations are constantly happening behind the scenes about the different ways that the league and its players can make and enact positive change.

“You have people that are invested in our communities,” Achonwa said. “You have people that are invested in not only just making the landscape of women's basketball or female athletics better, but the communities and the people that we represent. It really matters to us.”

The pandemic, particularly in the early days, pushed people to look inward in a way that normal schedules rarely allow. Many athletes have spoken about the mental struggles of the past two years, Achonwa included.

“I’m a big advocate for mental health, the conversation of erasing the stigma around mental health and its importance,” she said. “The importance of reaching out, the importance of talking to people and being vulnerable and being open as athletes, especially, because you get put in this kind of box, or there’s this picture that you have to be tough, that you have to be this superhero and that there's ‘no pain, no gain.’ I think that's a very false narrative of what it means to be an athlete. To be fully in it and to be your best you have to be your best on all levels, physically, mentally, emotionally. All of it.”

The pandemic forced Achonwa to take a moment to step back and look at the work she’s doing on a regular basis to take care of herself on all levels. She said this introspection was part of her decision not to go overseas and play during this current WNBA offseason.

“I knew that physically, I needed to be in peak shape for a long year, but also mentally, I needed a break,” she said. “I needed to be able to live life and enjoy myself a little bit because at the end of the day, yes, I'm an athlete. Yes, I play for Team Canada and yes, I play for the Minnesota Lynx. But at the end of the day, I'm still a person. The jersey comes off and I need to make sure that I take care of who Natalie is on the inside as well.”

Achonwa has always been vocal about the importance of mental health, but that resolve has only been strengthened after going through the pandemic and witnessing all of the ways that it has upended so much for so many.

“My hope is [that] by being vulnerable and talking about these things as myself, once again, representation matters,” Achonwa said. “Hopefully somebody that maybe is struggling or that isn’t as happy about where they are can see that hey, these people that you might look up to are having the same struggles that you have and It's OK, and it's important to reach out to people. It’s important to go to therapy. It's important to lean on other people and not try to deal with the world by yourself.”

While Achonwa regularly cheers on her WNBA colleagues for all of their activism and excellence, the 11-year veteran has made an undeniable impression of her own on the Senior Women’s National Team. The 2019 WNBA Community Assist Award winner is a three-time Olympian with Team Canada. She is the veteran that younger members of the program look up to today.

Though Achonwa isn’t with her Team Canada teammates as often as she’d like, she always makes sure to make the most out of each tournament, training camp and overseas trip together.

“It's always special,” she said. “The power of the jersey, to know that we represent so much more than just ourselves and just our families, we’re representing a country representing people from all walks of life. That means more to me than anything. Regardless of the tournament, regardless of who else comes, we know that this is what matters and this is why we leave it all on the floor and why we continuously show up.”

In a recent television piece on Sportsnet, members of the program talked about what it means to them to play for their country. Lemyah Hylton, in her first year with the program, spoke about the impact of Achonwa’s presence.

“Getting to be around Natalie Achonwa in real life, and really getting to spend time with her, she carries the same passion she shows on TV.” Lemyah Hylton said. “I think that’s huge. She does it on the court, she does it anywhere she is, honestly. It never stops.”

Hylton isn’t wrong. The journey doesn’t stop for Achonwa because there’s so much more she wants to see and do and impact in the future.

“It's all strides forward, right?” Achonwa said. “You can't stay stagnant because the only thing constant in the world is change, so are you changing for the better or the worse? Continue to try to push the envelope forward and make this world a better place for everyone.”

If this ever feels overwhelming, Achonwa has the game plan for that, too.

“Never try to tackle the world,”  she said. “Just do it step by step and piece by piece, and hopefully one of these pieces will fit into the puzzle of making a better place in what we live in for the kids that will follow in the next generation.”